The Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative was founded in 2012. The Progam has worked to advance the safe, ethical, and effective use of information technologies by communities of practice during humanitarian and human rights emergencies through interdisciplinary teams that collaborate with faculty members, international organizations, academic and non-academic research institutes, and professional agencies. Between 2012 and 2022, the team has focused on four major areas of work, including standards and ethics, remote sensing for crisis response, mass atrocity early warning/early action (EW/EA), and vulnerable populations and mobile technologies. These efforts have produced a growing library of satellite imagery guides, novel geospatial technologies for humanitarian research and response, and several practical guides for the ethical implementation of geospatial technologies and ICT. As the Signal Program enters a new decade the Program continues to build on the successes and lessons learned but has pivoted its objectives and strategies to support localized atrocity and conflict prevention decision-makers through the use of spatial data and methods, more broadly.
Our vision
Foster a world in which all communities have the capacity to anticipate, prevent, and respond to atrocities.
Our mission
Strengthen the efficacy and efficiency of atrocity and conflict early warning/early action (EW/EA) work through strategic, evidence-based, and ethical integration of spatial methods, field methods, and novel analytical tools into existing EW/EA decision-support mechanisms and workflows.
Our modus operandi
While data ethics and localization strategies have gained traction in humanitarian communities, the emphasis is often on the rights to protection, data privacy and security, and not the need to center under-represented communities and end-users in the development of functional humanitarian technologies. The gap between theory and practice remains significant. And too often ‘best practices’, methodological frameworks, and technologies are born of scientific and techno-centric ideals that have little to do with contextual realities and capacities of those utilizing them. This undermines feasibility, usability and sustainability. Often marginalized and acutely vulnerable sectors of a population are excluded from critical humanitarian technological design and implementation that will directly affect them, leading to exacerbations of those vulnerabilities.
Our work engages user-centric design methods and principles from decolonization and critical geography to understand and fill critical gaps in the use of deployable data for meaningful decision-support along the spectrum of EW/EA actors. While the user-centric methodology does require greater time and resources to create technologies and tools, there is significant evidence from the IT industry and commercial product development supporting its use to increase product performance, exposure, credibility, and uptake, and to decrease the likelihood of producing tools that are irrelevant, inappropriate, or simply not used. The last thing we as an organization want is to create another spatial algorithm that is published in an article and then simply collects dust.
Our team
Opportunities
Open positions:
Graduate Student Trainee
About the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a university-wide academic and research center in humanitarian crisis and leadership. HHI is based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Global Health and Population and is affiliated with the International Division of the Brigham Health Department of Emergency Medicine. As an Inter-Faculty Initiative (IFI), HHI collaborates closely with all Harvard Schools and Harvard Teaching Hospitals and is the primary humanitarian outreach arm of Harvard University. The mission of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is to create new knowledge and advance evidence-based leadership in disasters and humanitarian crisis. HHI was founded in 2005, currently operates 20 projects in 26 countries, and consists of 65 staff, faculty, affiliated faculty, students, fellows, and collaborators. HHI’s aim is to promote interdisciplinary dialogue in pressing humanitarian issues, advance the science and practice of humanitarian response worldwide, and improve the lives of communities in war, conflict, and natural disasters.
About the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology
The Signal Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, founded in 2012, has worked to advance the safe, ethical, and effective use of information technologies by communities of practice during humanitarian and human rights emergencies, through interdisciplinary teams that collaborate with faculty members, international organizations, academic and non-academic research institutes, and professional agencies. Its core goals have been to train and equip humanitarian practitioners with the technical methods, ethical doctrine, research, and relevant evidence-based practices needed to responsibly use Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) as part of their operations. In this next phase of the Signal Program, it is the team’s objective to strengthen the efficacy and efficiency of early warning/early action work through a strategic, evidence-based, and ethical integration of spatial methods, field methods, and novel analytic tools into existing EW/EA decision-support mechanisms and workflows.
The team is looking for an individual to work towards this objective and to assist with the following responsibilities:
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- Support research surrounding the development of spatial methods for atrocity prevention;
- Support community of practice activities;
- Support the development, writing, and publication of academic manuscripts and white papers;
- Support in the brainstorming and development of curriculum, workshops, and other events;
- Assist in the development of GIS projects and visual products;
- Assist with other tasks as needed.
Qualifications
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- Current graduate student with a background or interest in human security, humanitarianism, conflict and peacebuilding, and/or geospatial analytics;
- Experience conducting literature reviews and comfortable reviewing large numbers of academic papers;
- English is required, and a second language is a plus.
- Preferred: experience with ArcGIS Pro
Number of Hours per Week: 10-15 hours per week
Time Frame
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- Start date: Spring/Summer 2024
- End date: Minimum of 1 semester (with possibility of extension)
To Apply
To apply please submit your CV and cover letter to skhan35@mgb.org, which will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please use the subject line GT Application: YOUR NAME. Note: Secured external funding or course credit eligibility is required.
Women and applicants from low- and middle-income countries and conflict-affected communities are highly encouraged to apply. Please note: This is a remote position, but candidate must reside and be eligible to work in the United States for the duration of the engagement.
Collaborations
The Signal Program is always keen to collaborate with others. If you’re interested in any collaborating on interdisciplinary projects in the following thematic areas, please submit a form on the Contact Us page.
- Spatial analytics (GIS and/or remote sensing)
- Conflict and atrocity prevention prediction/prevention
- Humanitarian research and response
- Human displacement, migration, and the environment
- Public health and epidemiology
- Critical geography
The program supports organizations with and without in-house capacity for spatial analytics. The team is committed to fostering a new generation of practitioners and researchers that value, understand, and employ geoanalytical methodologies to improve the lives of those affected by conflict, climate change, and disasters.